Quantcast

The greatest Sonic game we never got to play

A brilliant 3D Sonic game? On the Saturn? It very nearly happened. We talk to one of the designers of the one that got away

Words: David Houghton, GamesRadar UK

In March ’96, Sega CEO Nakayama Hayao visited STI to check up on Sonic Xtreme’s progress. By that point Alon and Senn’s work had made great progress and they had a few playable levels ready to proudly show off. This was going to be the meeting that really cemented Sonic X-treme’s place in Sega development history. Except that it didn’t. In fact in many ways, it was the beginning of the end.

Nakayama didn’t like what he saw at all. The reason for that? What he saw was old work on an old version of the game engine, developed by a team inexperienced with the level-editing tech. The ‘real’ version of the game made by Alon and Senn might well have convinced him, but he was taken away before the two were allowed to show him what they’d worked so hard on.

He did however, get a look at Chris Coffin’s separate engine for the boss battles. That he did like, and he immediately ordered that the entire game be reworked using it. Here we go again…

It was a crushing moment for both the team and the project. With Alon and Senn’s version of the game blown unceremoniously out of the water, Coffin’s team essentially had a whole game to make. The December release date loomed on the horizon like an ogre with a headache. And a club with a nail through it.

Realising that development had well and truly hit the final ‘all or nothing’ stage, Producer Mike Wallis took drastic action and requested that Sega’s honchos allow Coffin’s team to knuckle down and crunch through the game in isolation. He put his foot down and requested that no more company politics be allowed anywhere near Sonic X-treme. Perhaps fearing the very same ogre, Sega management agreed. The team virtually moved into the office and started working sixteen hours a day.


 
12 Comments
Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First
Stuffgamer1  - 8 months 5 days ago 
Interesting article. I first heard of Sonic X-treme in Nintendo Power a couple months ago, and it keeps coming back ever since (especially on this site).

Even so, I must say that I don't like the looks of this game AT ALL! No disrespect to the people who worked their butts off to make this thing, but to me, it looks HORRIBLE! Navigation appears to be the absolute worst the series has ever encountered, and the 3D control looks even clunkier than some modern versions. Again, I stress that I don't want to devalue anybody's work, insult anyone, or anything like that, but this is my honest opinion on the matter.

I feel that all in all, Sonic should have never left 2D, period. But since he did (and I'm sure I'm going to be flamed for this one), I say that Sonic Unleashed is one of the best of the bunch. The night levels get a level of bashing they DO NOT deserve, and everybody can more or less agree that the day levels are awesome (any cheap deaths are caused by problems the series has had since game 1).

I'm not even a die-hard Sonic fanboy (grew up with Nintendo, and bought a Genesis on Ebay a few years ago), but I still think it's horrible how he's constantly attacked and ridiculed, when his games aren't even half as bad as people say (barring Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, whose demo I couldn't stand, and whose story looked NAUSEATING based on things I've seen on this site).

Sonic as a series deserves a good deal more respect than it's given lately (and Sonic IS better than real hedgehogs, thank you very much!). As with most things in this world, he's bashed so much that it's literally IMPOSSIBLE for his stuff to be as bad as people say.

Well, that's my crazy-butt long rant. I do ask that people don't go about flaming me TOO much. All I did is tell the truth, and a lot of you know it. Dozens of games have problems as bad as Sonic titles and worse every year, but his get the most negative talk, and for no good reason whatsoever.
NeoKef  - 7 months 23 days ago 
To the guy above me, keep in mind those vids are demos. With further editing, detail, and better movement controls the game would have been different.
OneWithWaves  - 7 months 23 days ago 
Ugh. Bernie Stolar. The world would have been a better place without you. "Saturn is not in our future"?! STOLAR is not in our future. Had this guy not been in SEGA at the time people would probably be playing SEGA's newest console and Sonic would get the respect he had back in the Genesis days. (Genesis was the USA's Mega Drive for those of you across the pond)
minimaxi  - 7 months 21 days ago 
Tragic. But I do find the fish-eye world a bit disorienting, but it certainly shows flavor, and a glimmer of hope for Saturn.
Magic_OF_Mayhem  - 7 months 19 days ago 
What a missed oppurtunity. Things would be different fo Sega, we would be playing the Dreamcast 2 and the Sonic and Mario would still be well and alive in school playgrounds.
Although I tuned out after the (in my opinion) great Sonic Adventure game for the dreamcast, I never really did like Sonic after he became "edgey" and everyone of his games had to be stuffed with obnoxiously cute characters( We're paying for a Sonic game, not a Cream the rabbit game!). Eventually though, I hope Sega will find a good game for Sonic.
AuthorityFigure  - 6 months 29 days ago 
That software looks truly progessive. What a damn shame.
Monkeylink  - 6 months 16 days ago 
ahhhh I remember the 2-d Sonic ahhhh those were the good days
waffledragon33  - 4 months 18 days ago 
damm
yoshihunter  - 4 months 17 days ago 
looks like a early mario galixie
wiigamer024  - 4 months 16 days ago 
I remember hearing about this game when I was younger, and I was SOOOOO waiting for it. Only to realize that it was cancelled. Damn, I was pissed that day. I remember my cousin coming in my room, asking me if I wanted to play STH2 with him or something, and I gave him this angry look like, "Why the F**K you even asking me, leave me alone." Then like, 2-3 days later, I felt better again.

Man, I just wish that game was released...
Kikyabut2  - 4 months 9 days ago 
it looks similar to mario galaxy, in that its spherical and confusing. it looks like it would have been great, if they had just moved back the release date a little further.
lukel127  - 4 months 1 day ago 
They have a beta at http://www.emuparadise.org/Betas/
I havent tried it but thought you would like to know
Related Games
Killzone 2 DLC Giveaway N4G
PS3 News from N4G
Nov 25, 2009
Kalypso Media to Enter Mobile Games Market with... N4G
PC News from N4G
Nov 25, 2009
Go To Hell - Dante Inferno N4G
PS3 News from N4G
Nov 25, 2009